


i can see you somewhere up the road (walking home to me)

by paopuleaf



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universes, Drabble Sequence, Other, Plural, Post S10 - Ascension, Valentine's Day, chat rp hell, elephant joke au, gifts and letters, in order the universes are:, mentions of teddy and arturo + kennedy and finn, voicemails fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29454072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paopuleaf/pseuds/paopuleaf
Summary: three different universes, three different valentine's days, spent together or apart.
Relationships: Luis Acevedo/Tot Clark
Comments: 5
Kudos: 14





	i can see you somewhere up the road (walking home to me)

**Author's Note:**

> luis uses they/them and xe/xem, tot uses ze/hir and he/him !   
> this is a prompt request from @socksmaybe on tumblr that got WAY out of hand !! hope you enjoy  
> the second part takes place in the elephant joke universe by baliset !

tot wakes up as the sun rises. ze makes a cup of coffee and takes idle sips as ze walks out onto the porch, sitting in one of the two battered chairs and listening to the windchimes go. it's cold, but ze doesn't really feel it. arturo comes over and does hir bandages, and ze apologizes, quiet, for making them come over on valentine's. they shake their head and invite hir over for breakfast with teddy.

luis doesn't go to sleep the night before, and doesn't feel anything about it when dawn hits in up, light falling with no sun to announce it. they sit on the roof and kick their feet out and wiggle their wrists until there's phantom bone cracks. kennedy and finn walk out of the building together, finn holding a picnic basket and ken holding armfuls of flowers and gifts. luis shouts a good luck and tries not to laugh when they startle, slight, drags their eyes up to the skies to give the pair privacy as they leave.

breakfast is a quiet affair. there's a bunch of flowers on the counter, in a vase; fresh, if tot had to afford a guess, because teddy's holding one to his nose as they walk in and sets it down clumsily when he notices them. tot leans against a stool and doesn't quite sits down, helps cuts things when they're slid to hir and hands them back to be thrown in with the eggs, pancakes. ze thanks them, takes hir leave afterwards, and begins to walk in no particular direction at all.

luis kicks off the building eventually. there's not much to do on a roof besides think, and they're not really in the mood for thinking, so they make their way to the empty field the crabs have started using for practice. there's nobody there, today, and they're not surprised - it's valentine's day, after all. they pick up a ball and step to the mound. pitching for tot always ended up awful, but they know the steps, at least, even if they fumble them every time.

tot ends up at carkeek park, overlooking the water. ze doesn't mean to stay long, but after centuries a couple uninterrupted hours feels like a blink. the park has probably closed, but - there's not much they can do to hir as a blaseball player, so ze climbs a tree until ze can settle higher up and pull out hir phone.

their arm doesn't hurt, and they're not tired, but luis stops pitching shitty balls to nobody and flops down on the grass, staring up at where the moon isn't and night is. they're not sure if they want to go back inside. it's an unfamiliar hotel with an unfamiliar room that they don't feel quite comfortable claiming as  _ theirs,  _ and the sky, however strange, is much more comfortable. they pull out their phone here, brush the dirt off their hands, and dial.

"hey luis," tot begins.

and luis starts, "hey, tot?"

neither of them are talking  _ to _ each other, not really. but the voicemails fill the hole well enough, tonight.

-

or;

tot is on the chicago firefighters, and luis is on the new york city millennials. neither of them ascend, because neither of their new teams are really  _ that  _ good - not that the garages were, either, for all their talk of deicide. so luis manages to get out of the mills' weird, shitty apartment and crash at tot's apartment in chicago, and they wake up on valentine's day morning together.

"tot," luis says, nudging hir. ze's lying nearly entirely on top of xem and xe  _ wanted _ to make breakfast -  _ try,  _ making breakfast - but ze's dead-to-the-world body decided it had other plans. "tot, wake up. tot. tot!"

"hm," ze hums, and luis groans. "i'm sleepy."

"go be sleepy on the couch while i make breakfast." tot does not get up, hiding a grin in xer chest. xe sighs, loud and over-exaggerated, and pushes hir off. 

"ow."

"i didn't even push you off the bed, don't be  _ dramatic. _ "

tot levels xem with a look that screams hypocrite, before throwing hir limbs across the bed, smacking them in the face. "sorry, firefighters, home emergency. i'm dying." 

"oh my god."

"it was sabotage. luis wants all the things i'm entrusting to xem in my will early."

" _ tot. _ "

"i always thought it would be krueger-"

luis snatches one of the pillows and shoves it over hir face, shoulders shaking as they push down their laughter. "i was  _ going  _ to make you  _ breakfast _ !"

"xe's smothering me," comes tot's muffled voice. "and starving me, apparently."

"you don't even need to breathe."

"suffocating. i'm suffocating."

they loosen the pillow, letting ze grab it and throw it to the carpet beside them. "this is the least romantic valentine's morning ever," xe complains, and tot snorts, knocks hir hand against theirs.

"we have hundreds more to be romantic on, if it matters that much."

luis grabs tot's hand before ze can stretch, pressing a kiss to the back of it. "nope. this is perfect, actually."

tot gives them a smile, slight and lopsided. "i can be more overdramatic, then."

"absolutely not."

-

or;

socks maybe has named themself the delivery cat of the day, carrying mail from place to unreachable place in exchange for gifts and favors. 

luis has been crocheting a sweater for them for days, blue like the hall of flame and decorated with little, puff ghosts, and they like it enough to agree to send their letter and gift to tot. it's not much. it never had to be much with hir, though - it's handmade, careful, and they know ze'll appreciate it. it would be nice to see hir reaction in person, but maybe socks will tell them how it went later, if xe brings treats.

tot receives a letter and a bracelet from socks a short time later. the bracelet fits perfect, beads and bells on yarn, and ze puts it over hir bandaged wrist. the letter is short, but sweet. reminds hir of before blaseball, and ze says as much in the letter ze pens back, careful with hir ink. we should do this more often, ze says, if socks allows. if they do, we'll both have to stock up on cat treats. the seal is imperfect, ashes mixed in with the wax, but tot's rusty, anyway. ze'll get better.

socks brings the letter back to luis, a jar of homemade jam in their delivery back for xem, and xe grins. opens it up to read. guess they didn't need to ask socks how ze reacted, in the end.

_ of course we can send letters, _

_ love you, _

_ see you soon! _

**Author's Note:**

> god. god. god. i need a minute i need to lie down  
> you can find me on tumblr @ catboydeicide, on twitter @ ghostcatboys, or in the crabitat, probably!


End file.
